---
title: "Office for Students: Provision of Support Services for TRAC"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-0567ad"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0567ad"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0567ad.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0567ad.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "OFFICE FOR STUDENTS"
published: "2025-11-03"
---

# Office for Students: Provision of Support Services for TRAC

Buyer: OFFICE FOR STUDENTS  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-0567ad

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## Summary

The Office for Students has completed a procurement process for the provision of support services for the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) system, ensuring technical helpdesk support for UK higher education institutions. The contract was directly awarded to KPMG LLP, a large-scale supplier, reflecting the need for specialised expertise in the TRAC system. This contract, related to the 'services' category, includes maintaining TRAC guidance and assisting UK regulators and funders. It was signed on 12th September 2025 and spans from 15th September 2025 to 14th September 2026, with KPMG providing support from offices in London. The buying organisation, the Office for Students, is a central public authority based in Bristol, operating under the legal framework outlined in the UK Public General Act 2023/54.

This contract offers significant opportunities for businesses experienced in technical support services, consulting, and project management within the higher education sector. Companies able to provide continuous and expert support and those familiar with governmental and educational reporting standards would be well-suited to engage with similar future opportunities. The ability to engage with complex methodologies such as TRAC positions a business preferentially for other specialised educational and government contracts, driving future growth and sector expertise.

## Notice

Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) is an activity-based costing system developed for the UK higher education sector and implemented in UK publicly funded higher education institutions. This contract is for the Provision of TRAC technical helpdesk support to UK HE institutions required to submit TRAC returns. Maintaining and updating the TRAC guidance and reporting requirements, including taking account of changes to financial accounting standards and meeting stakeholder needs. Carrying out reviews of the TRAC methodology to improve data quality and utility and meet multiple stakeholder requirements. Supporting the TRAC Development Group in its oversight of the TRAC system. Supporting the UK Regulators and Funders, including the use of the TRAC system to inform funding policy for teaching and research, and for informing pricing of research grants and contracts. To view this notice, please click here: https://www.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=991633956

### Procurement Information

The TRAC support service is a specialist contract requiring expertise in the TRAC system, understanding of methodology, and capacity to provide support across the UK HE sector, to OfS, SFC, Medr, DFE(NI) and UKRI to support use of TRAC data for informing funding policy, for use by UKRI for funding research grants and contracts, and to inform government policy for DfE and the devolved administrations. The OfS is currently implementing changes to its data platform and arrangements for collecting data from institutions (including change to the TRAC return template). Therefore, continuity of helpdesk support to the sector during the next TRAC return will be essential to avoid disproportionate burden for HE institutions during this transition period. Additionally, continuity is required in order that important developments in the TRAC system which involve implementation of complex technical changes to the TRAC requirements that have been developed and recently piloted under the current service contract can be implemented successfully and without disruption in the helpdesk support.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/070568-2025 |
| Notice type | UK7 - Contract Details Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Direct |
| Procurement method details | Direct award |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 3 Nov 2025 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 29 Jul 2025 |
| Contract period | 14 Sep 2025 - 14 Sep 2026 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £530,000 |
| Contracts value | £530,000 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | OFFICE FOR STUDENTS |
| Locality | BRISTOL |
| Post town | Bristol |
| Postcode | BS34 8SR |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLK South West (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLK5 West of England |
| ITL 3 | TLK52 Bath & North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire |
| Local authority | South Gloucestershire |
| Electoral ward | Stoke Gifford |
| Westminster constituency | Filton and Bradley Stoke |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | KPMG |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

### Codes

- 79000000 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

## Release History

- 3 Nov 2025 at 16:05 - Award - UK7 - Contract Details Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/070568-2025
- 15 Aug 2025 at 15:05 - Award - UK6 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/049256-2025
- 29 Jul 2025 at 09:05 - Award - UK5 - Transparency Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/043710-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/070568-2025
  3rd November 2025 - Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/049256-2025
  15th August 2025 - Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/043710-2025
  29th July 2025 - Transparency notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://www.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=991633956
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0567ad. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0567ad.json.